The early genealogy of my ancestors is based on that of Bartrum, the middle and modern era’s are based on research by Stuart Davies, Leonid Morgan and Sir Arthur Turner-Thomas V.C. I put together the whole thirty generations. Although I have a a few Norman ancestors such as Aubrey, Havard and de Turbeville I am very critical of their illegal invasion of Glamorgan and Brycheiniog, causing immense damage. de Braoise or Bruce was a particularly savage man as is well known. I do not feel one bit Norman. On 26th July 2010 I sent what appears to me to be the only half authentic account of the Battle of Brecon in 1093, where four of my ancestors fought each other: Rhys ap Tewdwr (in his late eighties in 1093), Bleddyn ap Maenarch (almost seventy years old in 1093), Bernard de Neufmarche (ancestor by marriage) and one of his knights, Walter Havard. The account is a second hand one taken from Nichol’s “Counties and County Families of Wales” – it is on
www.1066.co.nz/library/battle_abbey_roll2/subchap234.htm
It looks as if Nichol in turn got an account from Theophilus Jones, who has a romantic style of history, not unpleasant, fair to his countrymen, but not realistic. The British under Bleddyn ap Maenarch and Rhys ap Tewdwr fortified the Gaer (Roman Fort) outside modern Brecon. This was the castle of my ancestor Bleddyn ap Maenarch, Prince of Brycheiniog, a mysterious part of Wales. I do not use the word “Welsh”, they were as British as Caradog or Caratacus or Buddug or Boudica a thousand years before. The Normans under Neufmarche could not take it directly, tried to outflank it, and were ambushed by the British through Cwm Gwern Gad in their traditional all out onslaught similar to a Highland charge. The Norman’s superior equipment and discipline (according to Jones) won the day and both the British Princes were killed, i.e. both my ancestors. Nichol seems to think that this was the end of British rule in Brycheiniog, where the Welsh Dragon now flies over the castle and cathedral, so this account, although based on Jones, is heavily biased towards Normans who were in the last analysis, war criminals and hated by the British to this day, especially de Braoise the mass murderer. No point in mincing words. There ensued four hundred years of warfare between British and Normans until Henry Tudor finally won the day at Bosworth in 1485, where a dozen of my ancestors were present on the Tudor side. What good did the Normans do in Britain? They introduced laws, my ancestor King Hywel Dda made better ones, more humane; they built castles, so did the British; they built cathedrals; the British did so two thousand years ago, smaller and genuine ones, according to Gildas in the year 37 A.D., close to the original events. The DNA analysis shows that there is virtually no Norman DNA left, virtually no Saxon DNA left, only some Danish DNA from Vikings.